What is Shrubs?

A shrub is a botanical category of woody plant in horticulture, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, shrubs can be determined by its height from 3 to 6 meters tall.

A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience. Small, low shrubs such as lavender, periwinkle and thyme are often termed subshrubs.

A natural plant community dominated by shrubs is called a shrubland. The word bush can also refer to a type of plant community, as in the Australian bush.

This is often characterised by scrubby, open woodland and is a generic term for Eucalyptus dominated woodland in particular.

An area of cultivated shrubs in a park or garden is known as a shrubbery. When clipped as topiary, shrubs generally have dense foliage and many small leafy branches growing close together.

Many shrubs respond well to renewal pruning, in which hard cutting back to a 'stool' results in long new stems known as "canes".

Other shrubs respond better to selective pruning to reveal their structure and character.

Shrubs in common garden practice are generally broad-leaved plants, though some smaller conifers such as Mountain Pine and Common Juniper are also shrubby in structure.

Some specimens of a plant species may take a tree form like willows, sumacs, and spruces.